Gluconic acid is an oxidation product of the monomeric sugar, glucose. It exists to a large extent as the cyclic lactone in aqueous solution. The aryl hydrazide derivatives of gluconic acid are well known and have been used to study the optical rotation of the sugar acid. The alkyl and cycloalkyl hydrazides are not well known. The .beta.-hydroxyethyl-, isopropyl-, and benzyl hydrazides were reported by V. Grinsteins, et al., Latv. P.S.R. Zinat. Akam. Vestis Kim. Ser. (1967(6), 705-16 (Russ.) to be anti-depressants, and the benzyl- and isopropyl hydrazides were identified by Gutman in U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,660 as monoamine oxidase inhibitors.
Gluconic acid has been disclosed as a buffer in an anti-mocrobial peptone solution by Hecht and Fredenburgh in U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,326.